After some heated moments late in last night's game (all of them involving Brandon Phillips) the Nationals and Reds return to the field for today's series finale and rubber game, hoping the focus is all on good, clean baseball and nothing else.

The way Phillips' taunting was handled last night — with a fastball to the ribs from Miguel Batista — you would think there won't be any carryover today. Players all said the matter was handled "professionally" and there's no reason to think there's need for any more retaliation today. We'll see if that actually holds true.

Jim Riggleman is going with the same lineup once again. No changes, despite his club's recent lack of clutch hitting and the fact this is a day game after a night game.

Big start for Craig Stammen, whose job could be on the line. Will he be the one replaced by Stephen Strasburg? And if so, will he be sent down to Syracuse, or moved to the bullpen, in which case someone else has to go?

I know Guzman's empty .314 BA is fabulously impressive, but it really seems to me the team is better — has a better chance to win — with Kennedy at 2b, at least against RHPs. Guz should start at 2b against lefties, and get in every so often against RHP either at ss or 2b – but to have him start more than 50% of the games is a mistake.

I don't know why Guzzy is slammed so hard compared to other folks on the team. Yeah, I know, I know, he has limited range as a fielder and hardly ever walks.But he has more two-out-RISP hits (two) in the last three games than Adam Dunn has had all season (zero). And I thought this even before he led off today's game with a double (which puts him into a tie for third most on the team, btw — to go along with his 3 triples, second highest on the team).Enough with the Guz bashing already.

In line with DC Wonk…The thing about Guzman, in my opinion, is that he does some things well, though he isn't a great player. Perhaps the Nats could find someone who can hit right-handers, and set up a platoon at second base. The Cubs have a bit of a traffic jam in the middle infield – it makes me wonder how much it would take to liberate Fontenot (or Theriot) in the off-season, if they choose not to retain Kennedy.

Let me be the cranky old man for a moment. Why is it that during any break in the action — rain delay, middle of an inning, conference at the mound, and so on — the wizards operating the scoreboard take down the out of town scores and replace it with the dancine curly W or some other inane graphic. Not even and ad, which I could understand. Breaks in the action are where one most wants the out of town scoreboard.

Joe K — the thing is, as of this moment, Guz is batting .288 against right handers, which is a better BA than anyone else in today's starting lineup (except for Zim).You're right — he does a few things well, and some things not so well. But he's on a team that can use his hits.

The thing with Guzman is, he's only valuable when he's hitting. If he starts slumping, all you have is a leadoff/#2 guy who can't hit, can't take a walk, can't bunt, can't steal and can't play defense.Pass.

@Cranky Fan: I agree with you, but I think Grandstander hit the nail on the head. They do all that useless crap for the casual fan, not for those of us who really follow the game.I wish, simply, they would consistently get the in-game stats properly updated. I'm not in the park today, but last night (knock on wood), I don't think I noticed a single scoreboard mistake. First game I've seen all year where that's the case.

@Dave: right on; the scoreboard has come a long way since the sad and embarassing [sp? doesn't look right] first year. that first year in the new park we saw wrong pictures; pictures of one guy, stats of another, the auxillary boards not synced with the big board, and so on. but still it's hard to find the numbers on the big board. I could do with less of the cool pictures and more numbers.

I'm afraid this loss goes to Riggleman, Clippard knocking them dead and he inexplicably brings in Capps to blow it! Jim seems like a great guy, but everyone i our section was wondering why the heck he was bringing in Capps.

If he's your closer he's your close…gotta do it..once you go another way and it works you have to stay the course..it's a big decision…is he ready to make that decision NOW? We'll find out after presser..would I like to see him hand job to Storen? Yes, i would. But what to do with Capps? Does he accept demotion or become an attitude problem..I assume Riggs and Rizzo are going to be talking about it tomorrow…we'll see

I'm not saying I like these but last year I had a paperback book in my ball park bag that was usually open by the 6th or 7th inning. At least now it's worth watching the 8th and 9th most of the time. Maybe it's time to see what Clippard can do as the closer until the Nats are ready to throw Storen into the mix.

The Nieves batting average is abysmal, but his game calling has arguably been even worse. The decision to have Capps throw back-to-back sliders to Rolen after Rolen had shown no ability to make good contact on Capps' fastball was really the defining moment in this game. Terrible plan + terrible execution = terrible result.I don't think it's a coincidence that Capps' struggles have coincided with Pudge being on the DL. I was one of those who was skeptical that Pudge's game-calling was going to make a big difference, but I'm a believer now. With Pudge back and Strasburg on Tuesday, it's almost like a new season here.

Every time Capps has some adversity, he blows up. Bernadina should have probably caught that fly to left. So instead of Capps bearing down he gives up the next double, OK tie game. Settle down, sh-t happens.He then strikes out Rolen on that check swing but it isn't called. He sees adversity again and throws Rolen that same hanging breaker like he threw to El Caballo in Houston and same result, 2 run Homer.I don't get it. I would have thought McCatty or the catcher would have calmed him down after the blown checkswing call to Rolen.

NG, you make an interesting point–that Capps troubles began about the time Pudge went on the DL. Nieves may have a lot of responsibility here and not just with Capps. I may be listening to Dibs too much but I think there's something to it.